Sunday, March 29, 2009

The past few days have left me feeling really grateful. My boss and coworkers organized a special baby shower for me and my students on Friday. She bought a bookcase and each student brought a book for the baby. I had told her that E alternates between Goodnight Moon and The Cat in the Hat when he reads to my belly each night. Now we have a whole shelf full of choices. It was really neat to see what each student chose.

One of many fun games (baby shower games work really well with students learning English!) was for students to suggest a name for a letter of the alphabet. It was interesting to see which English names they've heard and like, and also get some Arabic (Feruza, Genan), Japanese (Tomo), and Spanish (Ximena) ideas as well! We thought one of the Korean students was suggesting "Laura" or "Lara", but no, he wanted "Lala"!

E and I finally got our beach weekend (postponed because of weather) which meant lots of relaxing and good food, and even a pregnancy massage! And zappos upgraded me to overnight shipping on a recent shoe purchase, so I got my new sandals in time for our getaway. Very cool.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

This was another fun project for the baby's room. I'm trying not to let the room get too themey, so instead of birds or trees, I thought a squirrel, butterfly, and dog would be fun, and they're all animals we see regularly. The dog silhouette is our pup Kobe, and I just used clip art for the other two outlines.

A few months ago, I saw and mentally filed away this idea of appliqueing fabric birds to the wall. Then, a few weeks ago, a co-worker cut out the same photo from magazine for me! I found the instructions for making the starch (so that the fabric can be removed from a wall) at how about orange, but I reduced her recipe to 3 tsp cornstarch, 1/8 c cold water, and 1 c boiling water. It's such a clean look on the canvas.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

...and even tinier armholes! This is the first wearable thing I've made for the baby, and it was so much fun! I've has this yard of fabric forever, but was reluctant to cut into it until I had the perfect project. It's from an easy pattern, McCall's 5304, that can be changed up and embellished. I thought the bias tape would be more visible from the outside, but it ended up being more of a facing for the neck and arm holes, the most fiddly part!

I saw LeeAnn's post about how gratifying sewing kids clothes is, and I totally agree. Each step goes so fast when it's so tiny! Won't it look cute with her tiny one-stars?

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Last weekend, my parents came over to help with some major yard work. We also spruced up the front steps with some petunias and a fresh coat of paint on our lanterns. Now I feel like we can keep it up for the summer!

This week is spring break, and although I'm still working, it's pretty quiet with no students. E and I have a little beach get away planned for this weekend. It'll be a nice escape. I love spring!

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Luckily, the weather has finally warmed up, permanently I think, just in time for my belly outgrowing my favorite corduroy pants. So it's on to shorts and skirts. I've also worn this thermal top a lot in the last few months, as it's one of the few tops long enough to keep me covered. I wanted to keep enjoying it, so I shortened the sleeves and finished them off by adding some bias tape trim. Much cooler!

Friday, March 13, 2009

I had lots of trouble settling on the right combination of fabrics for the baby's room, and after a period of doubting my selections (do they even make sense together? where does this fuchsia fit in?), I'm pretty happy with how it's turning out. I think some patchwork pieces will help pull it all together. Not sure yet if these bits will become a quilt or what.

And I can't believe how the color pink has grown on me since finding out we're having a girl. I've hated baby pink all my life! It's probably the first of many things I once said "never", and will soon change my mind about, right?

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Last weekend, E helped me get together the supplies and start assembling a pregnancy/baby journal. He doesn't really get why I've kept a journal since we've had our pup, but it's one of my favorite things to read. There are so many memories that might be forgotten if they don't get written down. And last week I saw this baby reflections journal, and decided it was finally time to get to work on my own.

I started with a martha stewart 3 ring binder scrapbook kit and used a bunch of fancy papers cut to size. The great thing about the binder kit was that the stickers came in this plastic pouch, the perfect size for storing ultrasound pics.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

We bought two of these Japanese magnolias last year at a sale to benefit Greenscape, a local non-profit that plants trees around town. It looked pretty sad for a long time, but it's beautiful now. Along with our azaleas and loropetalum that are in bloom, you barely even notice that our grass is still brown! The weather has been gorgeous the last few days, so I'm really hoping winter is over, and we're on to Florida's short spring.

I've been busy with projects, mostly baby-related of course, and the baby's room is finally coming together. This sewing project, however, is for another soon-to-be mom, my cousin's wife, who's expecting a girl about a month befor me. It's a nursing cover like bebe au lait, and it was quick to make, so I whipped one up for myself, too. The pattern is here.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

I finally finished another knitting project--this ribbed baby hat. I don't know why, but I really want to bring Baby D home from the hospital in a hand-knit cap. But this hat is probably the right size for a 2-year-old! Oops.

I loved this organic cotton yarn so much when I was working on my green scarf that I bought 2 more skeins of it in this natural color. And since I'm such a use-what-you-have kind of girl, I ignored the pattern's recommendation for a lighter weight yarn. I'm learning that I have to follow the rules a little more in knitting than I do in sewing. So my next hat, this simple baby hat, will be knit by the book, using the right yarn and needles:)